[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 194 (Thursday, December 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6876-S6877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tribute to Johnny Isakson
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because I
missed an important occasion in the Senate. We had a celebration
recently of one of our more beloved Members, Senator Johnny Isakson of
Georgia.
There wasn't much that could keep me away from that, but there was no
Senator going to Madrid to the conference of the parties to consider
the Paris Climate Agreement. Speaker Pelosi asked me to come on her
House delegation so that it was bicameral. As I think most people in
this body know, I am pretty animated on that subject and couldn't say
no. There are not many other things that could have kept me away.
I want to come now and make up a little bit for being absent that day
and express my gratitude for Johnny's friendship to me over the years.
I had the pleasure of going with him to the D-day anniversary on a
codel that he led with his usual graciousness and patriotism. He was
kind enough to join quite early on the bipartisan Senate Oceans Caucus
I started and has been a very helpful part of that endeavor.
We have worked together on ways to improve healthcare planning for
people who are in the late stage of illness to make sure that they get
the care that they want and don't get a lot of care that they don't
want and so that they have a chance to have their dignity and desire to
be at home respected.
We have long been adherent of a biennial budget, and I am delighted
that the bipartisan bill that Senator Enzi and I have put together will
create a biennial budget. I am not sure we will be able to get that
done before Senator Isakson leaves, but one way or the other, his
interest in biennial budgeting will live on, I hope, successfully when
we pass that.
We had a parity question about children's mental health hospitals
that weren't getting counted and, therefore, weren't getting access to
funding for the medical interns who come, and Johnny helped me fix
that. It helped, I am sure, hospitals in Georgia, but it was
particularly helpful to me for our Children's Hospital in Rhode Island.
We have a lot of Rhode Islanders who were killed in the Lebanon
Marine barracks bombing, and there has been litigation against Iran for
its responsibility for those deaths. It is not easy to collect a
judgment on a foreign government, and Johnny has been very helpful to
me in our joint efforts on Iran terror victims' judgments, helping us
let the lawyers collect against assets of the Government of Iran.
Then, we regularly have done National Mentoring Month resolutions
together.
But for all the things we have done together, that is not what I am
going to miss about Senator Johnny Isakson. He is just one of the most
decent, kind, good people who I have come across anywhere in my life
and, certainly, one of the most decent and kind Members of the Senate.
With my very sincere apologies, Johnny, for missing the correct day,
I hope you will understand how much it mattered to me to be elsewhere
and why I had to be there. I come to the floor now, belatedly, to wish
you all my very best with great affection and great respect.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote
on the soon-to-be-pending nomination be called up.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and
consent to the Duncan nomination?
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
[[Page S6877]]
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the
Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
Paul), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue), and the Senator from
South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran)
would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker),
the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from Minnesota
(Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the
Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 385 Ex.]
YEAS--89
Alexander
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gardner
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Manchin
Markey
McConnell
McSally
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Peters
Portman
Reed
Risch
Roberts
Romney
Rosen
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Shelby
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NOT VOTING--11
Booker
Harris
Isakson
Klobuchar
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Rounds
Sanders
Warren
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
____________________